Sometimes making art is a struggle. This is what I’ve been going through the last several weeks. I packed up my whole studio for a construction job that was supposed to take a week. We are going into week 4 and I am cycling through phases of horror, determination, terror, and necessity-being-the-mother-of-invention. This weekend I am finishing painting my 54″ fiberglass bear in a little corner of my studio, among the boxes and tarps. We are waiting for a city inspector to come and do a @#$% screw inspection. I am not making this up. So please send prayers to the Artist Angels because I need to have my studio back next week!
December 1st is on the near horizon, which means Christmas and New Years and 2022 are on a not-too-distant horizon. Another strange year is winding to an end, and somehow we quilters and makers have stitched and zoomed our way through another year that would have been unimaginable 2 years ago. Through it all we have found ways to take classes and attend lectures online, share our quilt projects online, and even having quilting bees online. (Often with a lot of coffee, wine, and hysterical giggling.)
Through it all we’ve discovered what and whom are most precious. We’ve switched gears to become homebodies. We have found time to do things with our family that we wouldn’t have had if we were traveling and going out. We’ve pushed the Pause button, grieved what we lost, then moved on to focus on what we DO have with a renewed sense of appreciation and gratitude.
What am I grateful for? At the moment I am grateful that we had the idea to start an ONLINE business in 1998, which opened to the public in March of 1999. Our Online Roots run deep. I remember very clearly when my best friend from childhood (PhD in Immunology from Stanford, Law Degree from Berkeley, Genome Project, tenured professor and general over-achiever) told me about the internet in the late 80s. I tried to imagine what she meant by “going to a webpage” but I just didn’t get it until I saw it for myself, and then the spark was lit. Then I married a brilliant guy who was designing webpages…a match made in heaven. And the rest is eQuilter history.
Just in case you missed this…
I am doing ONE MORE POLAR BEAR TRIP next year. Details on this page.
Our deadline has been extended and they are giving me the chance to fill up the bus with quilters and fabriholics, and we have just a few more seats open.
…sharing your love of fabric,
Luana and Paul
Quilt/Travel Calendar:
Dec 4 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” – Quilt Canada
Jan 12 – Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit
Feb 16-19 – QuiltCon – Phoenix Arizona
Sat, April 9 – “International Quilt Trends” lecture – NEQM Closing Reception
October 2022 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada
